Weston students ask: Are you prepared for earthquakes?

Tuesday

Oct 15, 2013 at 12:01 AMOct 15, 2013 at 3:14 PM

If you felt the earth shaking, would you know what to do? I didn’t. My family didn’t. Last year, when an earthquake was felt here in late October, we didn’t even move from what we were doing! If it were a big earthquake that had crumbled houses, we would have been in big trouble.

Jackie Liu

If you felt the earth shaking, would you know what to do? I didn’t. My family didn’t. Last year, when an earthquake was felt here in late October, we didn’t even move from what we were doing! If it were a big earthquake that had crumbled houses, we would have been in big trouble.

I am a member of the ThunderBots FIRST Lego League (FLL) robotics team, which is one of the student robotics teams of the Weston schools. This year, the FLL theme is “Nature’s Fury.”

FLL teams are asked to come up with ideas to help communities prepare, respond and recover from natural disasters.

For our work, we took a field trip to the Weston Observatory hosted by Marilyn Bibeau and Justin Starr. Only there, we learned the right things to do during an earthquake.

Before the field trip, I thought that earthquakes never happen in Massachusetts. So it never occurred to me that we needed to be prepared. You may think so too. But earthquakes do happen here. In fact, a lot of earthquakes have happened in New England since 1975. The biggest known earthquake that occurred here in Massachusetts was the Cape Ann earthquake of 1755, with a magnitude of about 6.0. The Cape Ann earthquake caused quite a bit of damage here in Boston.

Dr. Alan Kafka, director of the Weston Observatory, told us, “Historically, earthquakes have not been a major hazard in New England. While the chance of a major earthquake is low here, damaging earthquakes have occurred and continue to occur in New England, and there is always a possibility that a big one could happen here. The impact could be very severe if that were to happen.”

So in that sense, earthquakes in New England are both not a big problem, and also a big problem at the same time because most of us are not prepared. Even if a big earthquake doesn’t happen here soon, some of us might move or travel to a place with a higher earthquake risk.

Earthquakes are less predictable than most other natural disasters, making it even more important to be prepared, and to learn what to do in an earthquake.

Realizing the importance of being prepared, the ThunderBots thought it would be a great idea to bring earthquake drills into Massachusetts schools. When we went on a field trip to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), Chris Besse, preparedness coordinator, told us a great way to do that. He told us about an annual international earthquake drill called the “Great American Shakeout,” which is scheduled for 10:17 a.m. on Oct. 17 this year. Massachusetts has never participated in this drill before.

The ThunderBots came up with the idea of producing a video to help schools and families to learn what to do during a drill or an actual earthquake, and to make them aware of the Great American Shakeout. We teamed up with the Weston Observatory and MEMA, so they could advise us and make sure the video provided accurate information.

The ThunderBots also talked to Superintendent Cheryl Maloney, who was very supportive and immediately registered the Weston Public Schools for the Great American Shakeout. Dr. Maloney felt our project was very consistent with her philosophy that the schools be prepared for all emergency situations. As a result, the Weston Public Schools became the first school district in the Northeast region to sign up for the Great American Shakeout.

All this, of course, would not have been possible without the support of John Gibbons, principal of Weston Middle School, where part of the video was filmed.

We also sent invitations to all 522 school districts in Massachusetts inviting them to participate in the Great American Shakeout. Hopefully some schools will be able to do it and be as ready as Weston. We are also encouraging them to share our video with their students and families, even if they cannot participate in the drill this year, so that people can still learn how to get prepared.

Register today to join more than 16 million people participating in the Great American Shakeout at 10:17 a.m. on Oct. 17. Or at least watch our video to learn more about earthquake preparedness. Just search “ThunderBots Prepare for Earthquakes” on YouTube. You can also find our video on the Weston Observatory and MEMA websites. Or, tune in the Weston local TV channels (Comcast channels 8 and 9 and Verizon channels 41 and 45).

You can register or learn more on the Great American Shakeout website. Spread the word. Get prepared!

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